Manufacture of felt hats.



A. B. WARING.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 2, 1912.

Patented J an. 27, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

WITNESSES & C7

INVEINTOR ATTORNEY COLUMBIA PumOGRAPl-l c0. WASHINGTON. c.

A. B. WARING.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2, 1912.

1,085,370, Patented Jan. 27, 1914,

3 BHEETS-SEEET 2.

INVENTOR @W @49 2 WTQRNEY WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHING-MN. D. c.

A. B. WARING.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2, 1912.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOR A RNEY COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH CQQWASNINUTON. uv c.

ARTHUR B. \VARING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

Application filed July 2, 1912.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

Serial No. 707,193.

Be it known that I, ARTHUR B. lVARING, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented the following-described new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Felt Hats.

The invention is an improvement in felt hats and in the method of manufacturing the same, and consists in the combination with the steps of forming, felting and tinishing the hat-body in the usual or any suitable way, of certain novel and additional steps, as hereinafter more fully explained, whereby the hat can be rapidly and cheaply deco-rated on both the crown and brim portions thereof and on the inside as well as on the outside, with a decorative color design, which may be circumferentially continuous around the body and brim of the hat, and which provides for various novel and attractive ornamental efiects, such as imitations of woven fabrics, not heretofore produced or producible by any felt hatdeco-rating method heretofore employed.

The drawings illustrate the principal successive stages in the process of making felt hats decorated with colored designs according to this invention and show also one of the forms of apparatus suitable for carrying on such process. the apparatus also constituting part of this invention.

Figure 1 is an elevation view of an ordinary felt hat-body of substantially conical form and which may have been made in any suitable manner. Fig. 2 represents a metal shell-stencil of special form, Fig. 3 an elevation partly in section of a machine for using such stencil to decorate the hat body. Fig. at a side elevation of the same machine. Fig. 5 represents an elevation of the decorated hat body before shaping, and Fig. 6 the shaped hat.

According to this invention the hat body is first formed and felted in the usual way, producing a single piece of felt of conical shape and which is preferably stretched atthe tip or apex to form a bluntly rounded or dome-shaped top with a straight, c. 6., unstretched, skirt or main portion, substantially as indicated by the hat body shown in Fig. 1 and marked 1, such shape being given to the hat body at this stage for the purpose of preparing it to receive its deco ration, for which purpose it is placed on the decorating machine shown by way of example in Figs. 3 and at, although the design may be applied by hand if desired, as will later appear.

The machine referred to, comprises a main framework 2 with a cam-shaft 3 journaled therein and driven by amain shaftathrough a train of gears marked The top framework supports a pair of rails 6, forming a track on which a carriage 7 may be shifted in a direction parallel to the shaft 4:, such carriage being desirably provided with wheels fitting the rails (3 for this purpose. The carriage 7 supports a rotary table 8, journaled on a vertical axis thereon and carrying a hat-form 9 of the same general shape as the hat-body 1. In the present case the hat-form is designed to be expansible by inflation, being made of elastic material appropriately secured to the marginal portion of the table and provided with an air valve 10, by means of which air may be admitted to its interior. The rotary table 8 is secured to a central vertical arbor 11, journaled in the carriage 7, and carrying a bevel gear 12 at its lower end through which the table can be rotated when the carriage has been shifted on the track to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. By such movement the gear 12 is brought into mesh with a corresponding gear 13 on the revolving shaft 4, and the table and hatform 9 are thus rotated in consequence. A weighted chain or cord 14 serves to hold the gears in mesh when in this position and a hook 15, provided on the carriage in the nature of a handle serves to hold the carriage in its other position in which the gears are out of mesh.

Above the expansible hat-form when in its rotated position, the frame supports a color-applying instrument 1G and also a device for rubbing or mechanically working the color into the hatbody. The color applying instrument consists of spray mechanism connected with a source of air pressure by a flexible tube, not shown, provided with a nozzle which is directed toward the hat-form. This device is mounted on the end of a moving or sliding rod 17, which latter is mounted to reciprocate in a fixed guide box 18, and in a direction that is parallel, or substantially so, to the side of the conical hat form. The lower end of the slide rod is connected to a cam lever 19, adapted to be oscillated by the cam 20 to impart a traverse motion to the spray device in the said inclined direction, and that will cause such nozzle to move back and forth from the brim portion to the top of the hatform. The color spraying device or its nozzle is furthermore pivoted to the end portion of the traverse rod 17 and provided with an arm 21, adapted to engage a fixed cam plate 22 as the rod rises, so that it will be thereby tilted on its pivotal axis as it approaches its upper limit of motion and thus maintain the direction of the spray of coloring medium always normal or substantially normal to the surface of the form. The cam plate 22 can be supported on the main frame in any suitable manner. It is to be noted that the shape of the traverse cam 20 provides for a slower movement of the color-applying device as it approaches the lower and larger diameter of the rotating form, where the surface speed is greater, and a more rapid movement as it approaches the top, so that an even distribution of the coloring or color-producing medium will be thereby applied over the entire surface. The guide box 18, may be fixed to the frame or may be adjustably mounted thereon so that the distance of the spray nozzle from the form as well as its path of motion can thus be varied as desired.

The device for mechanically working in the color, and above referred to, is disposed opposite to the color-applying device and comprises a series of assembled circular brushes 23 carried loosely on a moving or reciprocating rod 2 1, which is mounted to slide in a guide box 25, so as to be capable of a traverse motion similar to that of the color rod 17. Such motion is imparted through a rocker cam lever 26 by a doubleended cam 27 secured to the power-shaft 4, and it will be noted that the relation of the gearing is such as to revolve this cam more rapidly than the cam 20 and thereby impart a more rapid traverse motion to the brush than is imparted to the coloring mechanism. At the extreme end of the brush an auxiliary brush 28 is mounted such brush being con-e nected to the brush rod 24 by a suitable joint so that it will rest on the upper portion and top of the form. Both brushes are intended to bear downwardly upon the hat-form either by virtue of the position of the brush rod on the main frame or by their own gravity. In the present case they are loosely mounted on the brush rod andmade heavy enough so that their weight will be sufiicient to produce the desired engagement. While the brushes may if desired be made to rotate positively through appropriate gear connections with the mainshaft 4 it is satisfactory in practice to let them remain stationary, or to be rotated individually by their engagement with the hat-form or the hat-body thereon, as in the case illustrated. The guide box 25 may be adjustable toward and from the track rail in order to take up wear of the brush bristles, or to increase the pressure thereof upon the hat.

In the use of the foregoing machine in the present process, the carriage is withdrawn from its position beneath the spray nozzle and brushes, and the hat-body, in the condition above described, is placed over the hat-form 9. A conical shell-stencil 29, having a flange 29 (Fig. 2) is then placed over the hat-body and secured firmly to the table by the clamp ring 30 which is placed over the flange and locked by the set screws 31, as indicated, thus clamping the hat body against the form. Air pressure is thereupon admitted to the interior of the form and the hat body becomes thereby expanded and pressed firmly against the interior of the stencil, whereupon the carriage is unhooked and returned to its position beneath the spray nozzle, and the table wit-h the hatbody thereon thereupon takes up its rotation in the manner above explained. The color-applying mechanism is then set in operation to direct the blast or spray of the liquid coloring agent against the stencil and through the openings thereof against the underlying surface of the felt hat body on which the design previously worked on the stencil is reproduced. While the coloring agent obviously might be applied in other ways it is preferably applied in the form of spray, forcibly impelled against the felt so as to penetrate and partially impregnate the body of the fabric, it being important to the subsequent steps in my process that the design be deeply impressed. As the surface of the felt thus receives the color it is carried beneath the reciprocating brushes 23 and 28 the bristles of which penetrate the interstices of the stencil design and carry or force the color farther into the body of the fabric, at the same time serving to keep the surface of the stencil free from excess liquid and also to prepare the exposed surface of the felt for its next passage un der the nozzle. The color will, in this way, be thoroughly applied in a few revolutions and the hat-body is then unclamped and removed.

It will be understood that while the process preferably uses the machine above described, the substant-ial result of such use can also be obtained in other ways. With the exercise of care the coloring fluid can be applied by hand if desired and rubbed in by hand with a brush, or it can be applied by dipping the hat-body and stencil in a vessel containing a dye or other coloring agent, but in the latter case provisions are necessary to prevent the liquid from penetrating under the stencil, a purpose which would be served by the expansible hat-form of the machine above described by virtue of the force wit-h which it presses the fabric against the stenoil. The shell-form of the stencil provides that the design thereby transferred to the hat-body can be uniform in arrangement and circumferentially continuous around the periphery thereof, and on the inside as well as the outside, with no break or interruption therein which does not form a part of the desired design and such as would otherwise be likely to result from the attempt to print or stamp the design upon the hat-body when either in a collapsed or distended form. Various new effects can thus be gained by the special form of stencil that cannot be produced otherwise except by hand; for instance, the stenciled design can be made to simulate woven fabric, as above stated, and when such design has been transferred to the felt hat-body and the latter then treated as hereinafter explained. the appearance of the hat when finished will be that of a cloth hat as indicated in Fig. 6, although made of a single piece of felt. The coloring agent may be of any kind suitable for use on felted goods and may be merely a weak acid or other reagent which by staining or bleaching the natural or previous color of the goods will thereby produce the effect desired.

Upon removal of the hat-body from the shell-form stencil as shown in Fig. 5, and before further stretching and blocking it, it is next placed in a steam tight inclosure of any suitable construction (and hence not illustrated in the drawings) and subjected to a thorough steaming for say, fifteen minutes, the effect of which is to soften and loosen the fibers of the fabric besides serving to some extent to set the color, which effect will depend upon the particular coloring agent employed. Upon the completion of the steaming and preferably after being rinsed in water to remove any excess of color. the hat body is then rough-blocked and dried, after which it is again steamed or moistened and block-finished with the desired final shape, during which process the decorated surface is rubbed with a cloth or equivalent means to spread out and rearrange the fiber ends or nap projecting from those portions of the felt surface that have received the color through the stencil openings.

By the procedure above described the sharpness of outline of the stenciled marking as first applied, may be reduced and a softening of the contrast between the marked and unmarked portions thereby obtained. The moistened and steam-softened fiber are easily spread about in a different relative arrangement from that in which they lay when pressed against the stencil and by such rearrangement the eifectreferred to is produced. The hat-body is then ready for such further flanging or blocking treatment as may be necessary to complete it as a finished article. It will be understood that the design thus produced can be made on both sides of the hat if desired, and in the same manner, and also that two or more stenciled designs may likewise be applied to the same hat-body with the same or different coloring agent as may be preferred.

It is important to the process that the top of the hat body shall be bluntly rounded as shown in Fig. 1 and as distinguished from the usual more or less pointed condition of hat bodies when formed and felted. The stencil should be similarly shaped, and the design thereon should be of that class of designs which comprises a multiplicity of relatively small design elements, each of irregular outline, such as represented by the openings 83 in Fig. 2, which said elements are more or less unevenly or irregularly spaced from each other. Thereby the further stretching necessary for giving the hat its finished shape is not sutlicient on the one hand to interfere with or weaken the color effect, or on the other to produce any appreciable disturbance in the uniformity of the design and reproduction of the woven effect of a cloth hat is thus readily obtained. If desired, linear markings to represent seams in a cloth hat, can be worked into the design on the stencil and other ornamental details can be carried out in a similar manner.

I claim:

1. The method of making decorated felt hats which comprises making a coneshaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, applying a coloring agent to the hat body through the stencil openings and steaming the hat body to soften the stenciled design thereon.

2. The method of making decorated felt hats which comprises making a cone-shaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, applying a coloring agent to the hat body through the stencil openings and so forcing the coloring agent into the hat body as to materially diffuse said coloring agent therein.

3. The method of making decorated felt hats which comprises making a cone-shaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, applying a coloring agent to the hat body through the stencil openings, separating the hat body from the stencil, and softening and rearranging the fibers of the stencilmarked portions of the hat body whereby the coloring agent is materially diffused therein.

l. The method of making decorated felt hats which comprises making a cone-shaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, applying a coloring agent to the hat body through the stencil openings, forcing the coloring agent into the hat body, separating the hat body from the stencil and steaming the hat body to soften the stenciled design thereon.

5. The method of making decorated felt hats which comprises forming and felting a conical shaped felt hat body, stretching the tip thereof into a dome shape, then making a circumferentially continuous design on said hat body including the dome shaped portion thereof and thereafter further stretching the dome-shaped top of the hat body and shaping said hat body.

6. The method of making decorated felt hats which consists in making a cone-shaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, and spraying a coloring agent onto the hat body through the stencil openings while imparting relative rotation to the stencil and hat body and the spray.

7. The method of making decorated felt hats which consists in making a cone-shaped hat body with rounded apex, pressing the hat body and a conforming stencil together, rotating the stencil and hat body at a substantially constant speed, and applying a spray of a coloring agent to the hat body through the stencil openings, and simultaneously moving the spray at a variable speed in accordance with the changing diameter of the hat body at the changing point of application, whereby an even distribution of the coloring agent is effected.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR B. WARING.

lVitnesses H. E. KIMBALL, G. A. TAYLOR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

